Bomb threat evacuates gym at Harper College

Officials evacuated the Harper College gym building today after a note found in the men's locker room indicated a bomb would detonate, school officials said.

The Palatine building was cleared by the Cook County bomb squad hours later, said Kim Pohl, Harper College spokeswoman.

"The Cook County sheriff's department bomb squad came out. A dog and handlers did a thorough sweep of Building M and they didn't find anything suspicious," she said. "Every institution deals with this once in a while."

About 2 p.m. Monday, a staff member at the college found a note that alluded to a bomb detonation occurring at 3 p.m., Pohl said.

The note was found in the lower-level men's locker room on the south side of Building M, Pohl said. The building houses the school gym – which is open to the community – of the campus at 1200 W. Algonquin Road.

A full search was conducted and the building was evacuated with about 200 people inside at the time, Pohl said.

By 4 p.m., authorities had cleared the building and were allowing people to go back in to get their belongings, Pohl said.

Although there wasn't an immediate danger, all classes and events for the day at Building M have been canceled. The rest of the campus is open, Pohl said.

The school is open this year on Veterans Day, although the holiday has been observed without classes in years past, officials said.

Pohl confirmed there has been one complaint about the Veterans Day change, but declined to comment further.

"The widespread feedback about having classes on Veterans Day was positive," she said. "I definitely would not want to speculate if there was a connection."